Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal (English pronunciation: /ˈtɑːʒ məˈhɑːl/; Hindi: ताज महल [taːdʑ
mɛɦɛl];[dubious – discuss] Persian/Urdu: تاج محل) is a mausoleum located in
Agra, India, built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife,
Mumtaz Mahal.While the white domed marble mausoleum is its most familiar
component, the Taj Mahal is actually an integrated complex of structures.
Building began around 1632 and was completed around 1653, and employed thousands
of artisans and craftsmen.[3] The construction of the Taj Mahal was entrusted to
a board of architects under imperial supervision including Abd ul-Karim Ma'mur
Khan, Makramat Khan, and Ustad Ahmad Lahauri.[4][5] Lahauri is generally
considered to be the principal designer.

History

Soon after the Taj Mahal's completion, Shah Jahan was deposed by his son
Aurangzeb and put under house arrest at nearby Agra Fort. Upon Shah Jahan's
death, Aurangzeb buried him in the mausoluem next to his wife.By the late 19th
century, parts of the buildings had fallen badly into disrepair. During the time
of the Indian rebellion of 1857, the Taj Mahal was defaced by British soldiers
and government officials, who chiseled out precious stones and lapis lazuli from
its walls. At the end of the 19th century, British viceroy Lord Curzon ordered a
massive restoration project, which was completed in 1908.[31][32] He also
commissioned the large lamp in the interior chamber, modeled after one in a
Cairo mosque. During this time the garden was remodeled with British-style lawns
that are still in place today.

Architecture

The Taj Mahal was built on a parcel of land to the south of the walled city of
Agra. Shah Jahan presented Maharajah Jai Singh with a large palace in the center
of Agra in exchange for the land.[23] An area of roughly three acres was
excavated, filled with dirt to reduce seepage, and leveled at 50 metres (160 ft)
above riverbank. In the tomb area, wells were dug and filled with stone and
rubble to form the footings of the tomb. Instead of lashed bamboo, workmen
constructed a colossal brick scaffold that mirrored the tomb. The scaffold was
so enormous that foremen estimated it would take years to dismantle. According
to the legend, Shah Jahan decreed that anyone could keep the bricks taken from
the scaffold, and thus it was dismantled by peasants overnight. A fifteen
kilometer (9.3 mi) tamped-earth ramp was built to transport marble and materials
to the construction site and teams of twenty or thirty oxen pulled the blocks on
specially constructed wagons. An elaborate post-and-beam pulley system was used
to raise the blocks into desired position. Water was drawn from the river by a
series of purs, an animal-powered rope and bucket mechanism, into a large
storage tank and raised to a large distribution tank. It was passed into three
subsidiary tanks, from which it was piped to the complex.The plinth and tomb
took roughly 12 years to complete. The remaining parts of the complex took an
additional 10 years and were completed in order of minarets, mosque and jawab,
and gateway. Since the complex was built in stages, discrepancies exist in
completion dates due to differing opinions on "completion". For example, the
mausoleum itself was essentially complete by 1643, but work continued on the
rest of the complex. Estimates of the cost of construction vary due to
difficulties in estimating costs across time. The total cost has been estimated
to be about 32 million Rupees at that time.The Taj Mahal was constructed using
materials from all over India and Asia and over 1,000 elephants were used to
transport building materials. The translucent white marble was brought from
Rajasthan, the jasper from Punjab, jade and crystal from China. The turquoise
was from Tibet and the Lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, while the sapphire came
from Sri Lanka and the carnelian from Arabia. In all, twenty eight types of
precious and semi-precious stones were inlaid into the white marble.A labour
force of twenty thousand workers was recruited across northern India. Sculptors
from Bukhara, calligraphers from Syria and Persia, inlayers from southern India,
stonecutters from Baluchistan, a specialist in building turrets, another who
carved only marble flowers were part of the thirty-seven men who formed the
creative unit.